Vignettes
by Teal Thanatos
Summary: A Series of Individual scenes or Short Stories.
1. Vignettes: Transfusion

  
Disclaimer Ranma Saotome belongs to Rumiko Takahashi   
The settings of _They _belongs to Chad Oliver and is taken from the short story of Transfusion published within AnAlog's Golden Anniverseary Anthology, published 1980.   
  
Ranma looked down at his gauntleted hands; the blue metal alloy reflected his face back at him. He had been a knight for almost ten years now; he was one of the oldest 'originals' surviving. The war seemed to be almost over, _They,_ the enemy who had no name, had been pushed back over three hundred light years.   
  
He still remembered when those of Earth had discovered just who Humanity was… A broken remainder who had once been a mighty interstellar empire, broken by _them_. Four starships had scattered across the universe when humanity had realized that they could not win against _them_, Humanity needed a new way of thinking, but this would not work if a large section of the culture was just transplanted… what humanity had need to fight against _them_ was a complete transfusion. The surviving humans had undergone total brain erasure, they had been dropped on earth by the starship crew and built a civilization that was totally different from the star spanning original.   
  
The crew had remained on the ship, and some few thousand years later, the last of their descendants was beyond child bearing age and childless when time travel was invented. The history department of America, eager for more information on Humanities past had sent three people back into the past, the time of pre-humans…. And found nothing… No humans, No homo erectus and no cro magnon, nothing... everything else was there, but there was nothing of humanity. The trio had bounced forward to the time of the oldest known written records, and then, they had bounced back deeper into the past… and deeper... Until they pinpointed the very day the paintings on the walls and the bones of humanity had appeared.   
  
They arrived that day, and checked the cave, they were arguing over the missing link when they heard a rumble unlike thunder... they ran and hid in their time capsule, covered by pouring rain and a tarpaulin. What came next astounded them, and then later the world. The spaceship landed, several robots disembarked and trundled into that cave… they carried within their metal arms bones… and other odd equipment. The spaceship meanwhile was not idle, out of the huge opening humans were lead, their was no children among them, but thirty or more people dressed in skins and similar... One man dressed in a uniform concurrent of the 1990 military watched them disembark.   
  
The travelers returned to their own time.   
  
Their one of them believed that humans on earth had been an experiment, and traveled to the one person who he thought was the observer... he was correct in his belief of observer, but wrong, oh so wrong, in his belief of experiment. At the house he was transported elsewhere, to the very same starship that dumped humans onto earth he was taken. There he met the elderly observer and his wife, the last of the crew. There was explained the hope of the long fallen and ruined empire, the hope of new thoughts made from a new culture... The hope of being able to destroy _them_ with those new thoughts of the new culture.   
  
People had been recruited and cloned people from across time, Ranma himself had been born one hundred and fifty years before humanity had discovered time travel, great generals were cloned, complete with memories, by force if need be! Great scientists were cloned and their clones brought to the future to examine the spaceship and to think of new ideas. Within fifty years earth was ready for battle. Heroes and mighty men from across time were ready; anyone who had ever even said they were the best had been brought forward! Ranma snorted, his metal battle suit shifting slightly. Those who displayed beyond normal fighting ability had been tested and tested again; over a hundred clones of him had been destroyed in testing, and near a thousand clones of Saffron had died in the tests for him.   
  
It had not been pretty, but humanity when prompted remembered _Them_, _They_ whose mere memories made children cry at night, _They_ who were remembered as demons and devil and dragons and serpents… and things without name... _They_ who had slaughtered the human empire, _They_ who had matched every new thought and idea that that ancient empire could make, _They_ who had survived the years…   
  
"It's almost Time to Move out, I hope you're ready to Kick _Their_ Asses!!" Ranma looked up; one of the commanders was up and preparing his troops. Looking around at his own battle suited soldiers Ranma sighed, how much he wished that you could have more than one clone alive at a time! How much easier would this war be if there was a thousand Ranma's ready to fight… A thousand people who would never lose as long as blood passed through their veins. He, Just a single Ranma, had turned the tide of countless battles, and in the ten years, he had not died once… unlike many other heroes...   
  
"Prepare yourself." Ranma said calmly as he stood, he brought up his plasma cannon. The troop deck of the battle cruiser almost unanimously cheered as the infamous Saotome prepared him self for battle. Several other commanders smiled as their troops took on his troops high morale, Ranma Saotome was the best, he never lost!   
  
Ranma's distinctive solid blue armor shone bright at the head of the squad. His soldier's standard white and red powered armor clanged as they saluted him proudly as one. It was touching, but Ranma did not care, he didn't even know most of their names… probably half or more would be dead by the end of the battle today, and their clones would be in another squad anyway.   
  
The battle ship shuddered as it passed through the atmosphere; it shook heavily as the planetary defenses shot at the invading fleet. Ranma ignored it… he just waited, memories of better times coursing through his head. He had checked the records while on earth, the original Ranma Saotome had married Akane Tendo at age 19, and died three years later.   
  
"Forward." Ranma hissed over the com link as he powered up his heavy plasma rifle, its barrel was almost as large as both his legs together; Ranma smirked as he moved forward and out the door onto the blue landscape under its green sky and red sun. _Their _base was almost thirty kilometers away, but _they_ were not ones to attack from a distance,_ they_ liked to see the terror and liked to eat the fallen, so _they_ would be on their way, the advance guard would be at their position within minutes.   
  
"All ready for the challenge Commander Saotome?" one of the other commanders asked. Ranma nodded slightly, _they_ liked to have their duels, and _they_ would stop an entire army in its tracks if someone challenged one of _them_. And _they_'d watch it, and _they_ never used their heaviest weapons except when a challenge went ignored or someone fired during the challenge.   
  
_They_ were odd like that, _they'd_ wait for the challenge, and then continue fighting like nothing had happened once it was finished, there were no rules to it that humans could think of. Ranma smiled as he saw the first of the vanguard arrive and conceal itself, he had one chance to challenge them and he would take it. Walking forward the man waved his blue armored arm and hit a button on his belt. From the speakers in the back of his suit bellowed out a deep bass collection of sounds, the vanguard finished arriving and sat in wait, neither sides firing, nor would they until the challenge was finished… the sounds that still echoed across the soon to be battlefield were roughly translated to 'I challenge your Strategy!' the one of _them_ who would answer that challenge was the strategist of the battle, the general, but his death would not faze _them_, they hunted more than fought, and it was hard to demoralise hunters.   
  
An odd looking beast moved from the opposing horde, it was roughly twenty feet long and had four monstrously huge fur covered legs, two thick scale clad arms, two thin leathery wings and over a dozen eyes on the draconic head, the battle armour that covered it was un-powered, as all of _their_ armour was. It carried a plasma rifle that was twice the size of Saotome's and a large sword. Ranma smirked, it was stupid to meet a challenge from a human, but _they_ fired on their _own_ when _they_ did not answer the challenge, well, that had ever only happened once in the entire war, but that was the theory.   
  
_It_ attacked first, shooting a bolt of plasma that exploded where Ranma had been standing mere moments ago. Ranma smirked, this wouldn't take long at all. 


	2. Vignettes: Place in Space

* * *

The metal oozed out between his fingers.

The captain of the starship USS _Insensitive_ looked at his hand idly, in it laid a deformed ball of crude iron. Running it over his fingers it was soon in the shape of a near perfect sphere again when a memory assaulted him. The iron oozed between the mans fingers and out the side of his clenched fist as his anger showed itself as much as he would ever allow it to.

"Admiral Bezoar politely requests a battle plan if you could create one." The captain looked at his communication officer and nodded silently. He wasn't in the mood to speak as of yet. Standing up from the chair he glided silently across the deck and softly tapped the screen in front of the seated woman a few times. "Thankyou Captain." He smiled slightly at her as the file finished transferring and she smiled warmly back, most of the crew would give a lot to have their captain happy and she was no exception to the rule. The did not care for his beyond genius tactics or his uncanny ability to always win with some new and totally away from the book methodology, it was because he went that extra step for his crew.

The captain seemed to be anywhere and everywhere at any time, often newer crewmembers –as they all had once- found it aggravating and annoying. But once they had settled in there was not a man or woman onboard who would trade his unique knack for any price. He always was where he needed to be, always at the spot where their was a problem and handing out a few sparse words that would allow his listener to save the day. He once claimed it was his method for not solving the problem himself, but to ask any officer of his, and they'd tell you, he did solve those problems... in the best way.

And at least for the women, it didn't hurt that he was drop dead gorgeous.

Blushing the woman realized she had been staring at him as she thought. Looking away she missed the small widening of his smile. As the captain turned to leave he reached out and patted her shoulder softly and spoke. "I've done the same thing more than a few times."

The iron again oozed between his fingers.

He had physical strength beyond the norm, his mind had until recently been almost entirely devoted to a single thing. Yet here he was a commander of a starship, a commander of seven hundred and thirty-three people. The federation needed fighters to defend it-self, although at best those fighters comprised a miniscule portion of the fleet (much to the rest of the galaxies relief). He was a fighter, so he fit the bill... Technically, but why was he here instead of looking for a way to go elsewhere...

Maybe it was because this was a fight and he needed to fight, for his love was the fight itself and how the fight could manipulated so that he would win. Besides, what would the crew do without him?

Ranma looked at the crushed iron in his hand and rolled it together into a ball. Dropping it into a small storage space he smiled cheerfully as the borg cube they had been chasing appeared on the view screen. Around the _Insensitive_, two dozen other starships fell into a formation he had created mere hours before as admiral Bezoar's voice came across the inter-ship communications network. "Captain Saotome has been so kind as to supply us with a nice plan to play with today gentlemen, do him and myself proud."

And with that, the first starship's, right at the outer edge of the formation, fired.

* * *

Ranma 1/2 belongs to takahashi, star trek belongs to someone else, I make no profit. 


	3. Vignettes: Ranma's Spartans

**0530 hours, August 23, 2426 (Military Calendar) / Sol System, Australia District, Planet Earth.**

Ranma had no idea about how he'd been found out. But he had, and the government had come for him. Sprinting at near top speed the pigtailed man left the stairwell and burst outward onto the roof of a small skyscraper, glancing around Ranma noted the three gun ships circling the building like vultures focused on the brown business suited figure below them.

The nearest building was a two hundred meter jump, and six stories above him. Smirking broadly the undercover martial artist waved his arms behind him and jumped backwards, as his body passed the seal he had created; a tornado appeared almost horizontally in front of him causing the pigtailed man to fly forward through the air at a tremendous pace.

Smirking in memory of better times long, long ago Ranma closed his eyes for a moment and reveled in the feeling of flying as he had been unable to do for nearly twenty years. As he opened his eyes the skilled martial artist landed on the roof, just as a pelican troopship opened up to his left revealing twenty-four soldiers who immediately opened fire towards the fugitive Saotome.

Keeping low Ranma ducked and ran on all fours, his body contorting in unnatural positions as he ran like an animal across the rooftop and off the edge, the fifty meter distance covered in mere seconds.

As he fell the wind predictably buffeted him towards the side of the concrete and glass skyscraper. Pointing his fingers towards it he hissed under his breath and as the wall approached his fingers seemed to glow an angry red as he jabbed them into the wall, his body immediately slammed in towards the building and smashed through the glass that began merely inches below the melted stone his fingers took purchase in.

Rolling across the floor and slamming into the wall Ranma shook his fingers quickly as he dispersed the hot iron fingers technique he had used to make a handhold. Walking to the door he absently broke the lock off and left the wrecked apartment behind, outside in the bland white toned hall Ranma set off at a run towards the Elevator. Pushing the shaft doors open he walked in and hoisted himself up to a small ledge barely five centimeters deep. Impossibly keeping his balance the man reached down and closed the door before eyeing the sixty five story deep elevator shaft below him.

Smirking at yet another chance to show off long unused techniques Ranma pressed his lips to the palm of his hand for a long moment before leaping outwards and grabbing an elevator support cable. Sliding down it he ignored the smell of the burning oil as he concentrated on the elevator coming up below him, looking to the side he jumped immediately off only seconds before an impact with the flimsy metal box.

Grabbing the cable for the second elevator he started his mad rushed controlled descent again, thirty stories down Ranma again swapped cables to the fourth elevator and landed soundlessly upon it seconds before it stopped on the ground floor. Sneaking off the metal roof Ranma took the service ladder and slide down beside lift less than a second before a soldier cautiously stuck his head out the roof access hatch and kept watch as the elevator moved upwards the floor the fugitive had been seen entering.

Ranma's grin of victory was present in full force as he dropped the last three stories to the maintenance level. Opening the door cautiously he stepped over the laser beam at thigh level and ducked under the second beam at head height before twisting through the air to avoid two more placed at the same level as both previous beams. Moving forward quickly he bounced off the wall and around the corner, avoiding wide pressure plate that occupied the entire corner of the corridor.

Crouching down Ranma glanced along the hall and pulled open a small panel, laying flat he wriggled forward into the exposed space for almost two meters before dropping headfirst into a small room – one not on any building plan. Landing on his feet Ranma reached up and slid a thick panel over the hole he had entered the room with.

Frowning in worry the man opened up a small plastic chest and removed two J8D automatic pistols. The weapons were new, the military had only started to mass produce them in the last month and the pigtailed man had stolen some to distribute between his safety caches. That was probably the cause of his existence being divulged to the UNSC.

He didn't regret it though; life was too long for those.

Opening the locker next to chest he removed a workers uniform and quickly changed into it before hiding the two pistols in it. Crouching in the far corner Ranma trailed his finger along the floor, reaching out with his ki to find one of the dozen small explosive caps. As the cap exploded a small ball bearing moved along the length of the floor via a hidden cavity before impacting with a switch and dropping into a holding container.

The lights dimmed off and the floor immediately started to slide, the open locker and chest with it. Before they moved too far however it stopped with the faint light of the subway below. Listening quietly Ranma heard no noise and thumbed a hidden panel in the side of the floor before dropping down.

As he fell the ten meter drop, the floor moved back into place and the second sliding panel hiding the tunnel from the subway closed behind the Saotome as he passed it. Landing on the tracks Ranma immediately summoned his ki to himself and sprinted down the tracks to the nearest station, about twenty meters before it he ducked into an employee's doorway and took the steps up to platform level.

A hidden security camera monitored his presence.

The walls of the hall Ranma was currently walking down exploded, hundreds of thousands of small needles penetrated his body and within moments the drugs kicked in rendering him unconscious.

Two ONI agents a hundred meters away sprinted towards the hallway, as they entered it thirty seconds later Ranma was already beginning to awaken from the drugged stupor which would have killed a normal man.

The ONI agents pressed a needle into the side of his neck and the Saotome fell unconscious again.

**0845 hours, August 23, 2426 (Military Calendar) / Sol System, Australia District, Planet Earth.**

"Target Captured."

**1100 hours, ** **September 3, 2431**** (Military Calendar) / Sol ** **System** **America**** UNSC Interrogation, Planet Earth. **

Opening his eyes he was blinded by the bright light. A loud voice echoed in his ears unintelligibly and the man grimaced from the pain that the sounds brought him. A few minutes of blessed silence later the same voice spoke again, this time his sore ears made out the woman's voice. "Scans indicate no permanent damage." The patient mentally scowled, he certainly felt damaged enough. A beeping sound began and silenced after only three hellish beeps. "He's awake now sir."

The ceiling above him had slowly come into focus revealing bland white tiles, the reflected yet indirect light hurt a little. Ranma could feel he was restrained with padded metal covering almost the entirety of his body.

"Who are you?" asked a baritone voice roughly.

Ranma responded automatically, his voice out of his own control. "Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Martial Arts." He was surprised by his own answer, why expecting the truth serum he hadn't really thought of himself that way for a long time.

"It turns out that Ranma Saotome never existed… Who are you?" the voice repeated the last three words irritably.

Ranma snickered, "Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Martial Arts." He repeated himself, letting his own annoyance colour his tone.

The man growled angrily behind him, prompting a third, mellow, voice to speak up. "What is your birthday?"

"Twelfth of June." Ranma answered sluggishly, he was clearly trying to fight the truth serum. The nurse approached and injected a needle into his upper arm. The plunger slowly moved downwards forcing the liquid into Ranma's circulatory system. After an agonizing minute she removed the needle and stepped back.

"What is your date of birth?" the man asked with his wording only slightly different.

"Twelfth of June, nineteen eighty-four." Ranma said, his voice again completely out of his control. He wondered idly if they would think he'd been programmed or if they'd believe it.

"Name your district of birth." The baritone voice said uncertainly.

As the earth had moved into space, more and more of the home planet had become covered by city, older parts of the world had names for their districts with numbered subsectors.

"My district of birth is now known as Japan." The Saotome said clearly.

The third person could see the interrogator frown, as if uncertain of what to think from this answer, smiling he spoke in his mellow voice. "What was the name and location of the place you were born, at that time?"

" Fuujin Saraman General Hospital, Nerima Ward."  Ranma said bitterly.

The baritone interrogator nodded thankfully at the third man and spoke one final time. "That will do. Put him to sleep."

Ranma's last sight was the brown haired nurse bend over him and push another needle into his neck.

**1900 hours, ** **September 3, 2436**** (Military Calendar) / Sol System, ** **North America**** UNSC Headquarters, Planet Earth. **

A darkened room with an oval table, eleven people sit calmly in uniform with a twelth standing behind the group. The heads of section three, better known as ONI the intelligence division, were in meeting. Surrounded by dimly lit grey walls the rulers of earth and almost half of the human worlds were in meeting.

"Begin." Stated the man seated at the head of the table.

"Initial seeding has born an eighty-eight point five percent success rate." Began the standing agent. "So far, seven percent of the failures have been due to behaviour of the host and two percent due to genetic clashes." The agent paused. "All other abortions have been caused by ONI due to defects carried from the host's genetic structure."

"No Questions, Dismissed." Said the commander softly, the agent left the room quickly.

The meeting continued on quietly for a few minutes, before one very important question came up.

"Are we sure on how long they should live?" asked the man third from the end. He'd launched several other important questions in the last few minutes, but this one was the most important of all.

"We have... an estimate."


	4. Vignettes: Almost Undone

Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma 1/2.

* * *

**A great pressure surged down upon him, pushing it off to the side the martial artist leapt towards the enemy as the road next to him cratered under the shifted pressure. Dodging under a ripple in the air the martial artist frowned at he realized the enemy well and truly had him on the ropes. Ranma could do little in this battle, the enemy, which appeared similar to an elf - although taller than a man - was in control of the fight, its ability to manifest it's will into reality was horrifying and rendered it near unstoppable. Only Ranma's own pitifully undeveloped will was able to shift the enemies away from himself, but even then it was useless on the offense.**

**The creature was looking more furious now, it's inhumanly beautiful face twisted into rage. "Die Human!" Ranma felt the pressure of the enemies will again as it buffeted him in an attempt to rip his body to pieces. Crying out in agony as his part of his body began to obey the enemies will Ranma summoned his flagging strength and forced it away from him.**

**A nearby post box twisted out of shape and then burst into shards as torn paper littered the ground where it had been.**

**Panting Ranma sprinted as fast as he could around a street corner and ducked into an alley, hiding in the shadows he applied his father's sealed invisibility technique and relaxed, leaning into the wall. There was nothing he could do right now to defend from that creature... he needed time to prepare. Time that Ranma had to spare, now that everyone else he knew was dead. Crying bitter tears Ranma Saotome slunk away, biding his time until he was strong enough to take revenge… because there truly was nothing else left.**

**A bird that was high in the sky above the concealed boy would have seen the albino human looking creature scream in rage and destroy everything in a twenty meter radius. But the creatures took pleasure in practicing their will against moving targets, and so there was no bird.**

**A satellite that was zoomed in close enough would have seen Tokyo as a nearly destroyed city, great tracts of land nothing but rubble while others mere meters away stood untouched, not being interesting enough to fight over yet.**

**If the satellite was looking a bit wider, it would have seen all of Japans & China's cities in a similar set of straights, despite their being no evidence of destruction outside the cities…**

**But that would come; after all… you can only kill so many people in a single place before getting bored with it.**


	5. Vignettes: The MuggleWizard War

Harry Potter belongs to JK. Rowling.

* * *

Fifty massive titans stepped onto the field, stone giants each and every one. Harry Potter stood in the gazebo mounted on the neck of one at the rear. As The Boy-Who-Lived he was far to valuable to stand at the front, but it didn't mean he couldn't see the battlefield clearly. An unexpected lurch as the War-Walker crushed a boulder beneath its massive foot caused Harry fall forward, between two stone pillars that held the delicate bronze roof up. His face, more specifically his nose impacted on an invisible barrier, one that not only protected the people inside the War-Walker from outside attack, but against falling out as well.

"Careful Mr Potter, it would be unfortunate if you were to die of a broken face." sneered Professor Snape.

Turing around Harry's eyes wandred over the interior of the small open-air building. Six seemingly sleeping figures seated in stone chairs surrounding a miniture version of the battlefield, that would be standard in each of the fifty stone titans, but what was not standard was the other people standing around. Severus Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, Cornelius Fudge and two ministry guards were all packed around the sides of the small structure.

Minister Fudge smirked, he would dearly like Harry Potter to die such an ignoble death, just as he was about to speak however the six sleeping wizards simultaneously drew their wands and placed them point down into the table as if it was nothing but soft butter.  
"It begins." whispered Fudge.

Turning Harry looked back towards the horizon, thereon the edge he could dimly make out a few flashes of light as muggle tanks fired at the lumbering titans.

Muggle Artillery air-burst around the titans, throwing one to the ground and the wizards within flailing as they were thrown from their seats and bounced around in the shielded building. Fudge chuckled and pointed at the wizards who were quickly retaking their positions and casting the specific spell required to merge them into the War-Walker again. Tonks looked at Harry and pointed at the wizards who were at most bruised. "They'll be right embarrassed about that. Imagine throwing yourself backwards cause somethign flashed in your face." Harry nodded.

The stone titans shrugged off anti-armor rounds from the tanks as if they were nothing, and indeed to them they were naught but that. Eight longer range Surface-to-surface missiles flew in from behind the eastern muggle forces, one of the stone titants waved a massive hand towards them and five beams of light came out of its fingers and guided themselves to the missiles, transfiguring the fuel of each one into non-combustible liquids causing them to drop short and explode on the muggle infantry below. Two more of the missiles were stopped by other titans and the final one impacted upon the outstretched fingers of one of the giant walkers, doing no visible damage... not even a blackened mark upon the stone.

A stone titan lifted its leg to step up a small incline when a tank shot it from mere hundreds of metres away, the impact of the blast pushed the leg backwards, unbalancing the massive construction bringing it down on hands and knees, surviving muggle infantry screamed in victory and lept forward to the gazebo and the wizards sleeping inside. They muggles screamed again as their bodies were immolated by the wards, their dying bursts of fire impacting harmlessly on the shield between each pillar of the gazebo.

The unbalanced titan stood again and made a throwing motion in its hand, a massive fireball leapt from its hand and hit a cluster of muggles, engulfing them in flame and reducing their bodies to ashes in seconds.

A whisper from one of the sleeping wizards behind him caught Harry's attention 'Reducto'. Sparks leapt out of one of the fingers of the titan and dashed forward at an incredible rate to a tank nearly five hundred metres away. As the sparks connected to the tank with impossible accuracy the entire machine exploded, throwing shrapnel around it with lethal abandon.

Harry shuddered as he imagined the screams of the muggle infantry who had just been reduced to little more than minced meat. Tonks draped an arm over his shoulder and pulled him against her side comfortingly, Harry was glad of an excuse to look away from the slaughter.

* * *

Mark gestured out into the cavern, from their vantage point high upon the wall Harry and his guide could see a literal sea of giant stonelike figures, each humanoid barring the replacement of their heads with what appeared to be a gazebo held up by six thin stone pillars.

Harry worked his mouth for a moment before words came, "It's amazing, what are they?"

Mark looked down at the boy who lived respectfully and gestured towards the steps, as they moved towards them he began to explain. "These Harry, are the War-Walkers." he stopped at the top of the stairs and points across at the nearest stone figure, six high backed stone chairs sat surrounding a solid stone table. "Six wizards occupy each one where the many spells and enchantments form their minds into one being... one being capable of casting any six spells or more at once."

Harry shivered, One War-Walker full of even mediocre wizards could take on Dumbledore, although the elderly headmaster would most likely win.

"Theres more." Mark continued, "The walkers are charmed to be increidbly magic and physically resistant." The pureblood wizard smirked cruelly. "During the latest muggle world war, they were tested against a german tank division and wiped it out without being scratched, although the wizards were quite sloppy and allowed two shots from the tank to impact on the Walker."

"What about Modern tanks? they're much faster and more powerful than those old ones.." Harry objected.

"We know." Mark said with a nod. "But it won't change a thing, the real reason that Wizards fear giants isn't their monstrous strength, but their ability to destroy magic with physical attacks... a single giant is capable of taking on a War-Walker... compared with that, there is good reason that we deride the muggles."

Harry's mind tried to process it but just couldn't understand it from his perspective, "Giants blows aren't as strong as a modern tank shell though, especially an armor piercing one.." tried the boy bewilderdly.

"It doesn't matter." Mark replied with a shake of his head. "Physical attacks are blunted, for the muggles to be able to even damage a walker they'd have to be able to infuse magic into their weapon's ammunition like almost every magical creature does."

Harry nodded after a moment, "So without becoming wizards, the world could never destroy the wizards?"

Mark winced a little. "Not in combat, well, not without something like hand held nukly-arr weaponry." the wizard shrugged. "We've never been able to test one of those... Magic gets a bit wonked out when they go off you see."

Harry nodded, science class back in primary school had made electric magnets once, and they'd been told about it disrupting electrical things if it was strong enough, like a wave caused from a nuclear bomb. It wasn't unreasonable to believe magic would be disrupted by it when considering magic disrupted electricity as well.

"When six wizards are inside these walkers, they're minds are sort of stacked on top of each other." Mark said as they reached the end of the descending stairs. "A wizard is more dexterous, has more stamina, better eyesight and a few other assorted advantages over muggles. When inside these walkers the wizards can cast spells with unerring accuracy for over a mile, stay awake for a week or more, see insects at over a mile and so on." The wizard paused while he waited for Harry to stop looking at the giant stone foot beside him, as soon as he was being watched again Mark continued. "Now, thats just with human eyes, the War-Walkers use magical eyes in each of the six pillars, these are nearly five times the size of a human eye and capable seeing through nearly anything at a range of less than ten miles."

Harry could see people starting to move among the stone titans, glass orbs were pressed against the ankles of each stone walker where they were absorbed into the rock. "What's happening there?" Asked Harry after a moment.

"The orbs are basically keys. Without one in the titan it won't move or do anything, just a safety procedure to stop Death Eaters and their like from using them." Mark said with a shrug. "I think its time we went back upstairs, if they're unlocking the Walkers we'll be moving out very soon."

Harry took one last look up at the giant stone war-golems. "If the muggles knew... would they have declared war?" asked the boy under his breath before turning his back to follow his guide.


	6. Vignettes: Another Day

Drip

The room was cold and water covered the floors, just deep enough to ripple whenever he took a step.

Drip

He cautiously walked forward, the ripples radiating in front of him unnoticed.

Drip

Iron pipes crisscrossed the passageway ahead. Here and there Rust had taken hold and dark reddish water would

Drip

Down to the pool below. His fingers intercepted the next drop of water, it was cool, and somehow wetter than it should have been. He licked his lips unconsciously and walked onwards.

Drip

She was beautiful, tall, taller than any adult he had known. Her features were perfect, dark skin taught over her frame without an extra inch of fat anywhere. Nothing but rippling muscle covered in soft pliable skin.

Drip

Water dripped down onto her form, sliding down her bare shoulder, along her collarbone and vanishing between her breasts.

Drip

She was covered after all, a shoulder-less gown, with red fur around the top, leading down to a darker leather corset that emphasized her bust and small waist. The gown arced outwards over her rear, showing generous hips and rear before trailing down onto the water covered floor.

Drip

Her finger twitched and his eyes focused on her hand, her skin rippled with the tiny movement showing the muscle beneath and his breath caught. He took a deep breath and tore his eyes away from her, noticing for the first time the vertical bars between them. Not just bars, two doors held closed by a simple paper with the word Seal imprinted upon it.

Drip

She opened her mouth and his eyes focused on her completely, once again ignoring his surroundings.. "Wake Up." She demanded, her voice deeper than any woman he had heard before.

Drip

He looked at her oddly for a moment before realization swept through him and he sat up.

Blinking he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned reflexively. Getting out of bed the boy stretched and went to get dressed. There was nothing unusual about this morning, or the night before. He had been woken by the same dream for as long as he could remember.

Well, not everything was exactly the same, the doorways he couldn't pass through and the hallways that he could were taller and wider than they used to be. And the pipes that lead to Her room were thicker than they used to be too, but they were also rustier. The darker water dripped more often now too, and there were newer pipes, ones that vanished out of the corridors of his dreams and into the walls.

Naruto wasn't curious though.

The young child picked up a metal pot and filled it with water, Taking a breath he concentrated and for a moment he was back in the corridor, watching the water get deeper in a rush and sweep over his ankles and nearly halfway to his knee before he snapped back and watched the water bubble with a quirk of his lips. Placing the pot on the broken stove he grabbed a cup of Ramen from the nearest cupboard and opened the lid halfway.

He poured the boiling hot water from the pot into the ramen container and ran his finger around the edge of the container to seal the lid and keep the heat inside. Sitting down he stared at the cardboard container, waiting for the water to be absorbed into the noodles within.

The moments strolled away steadily, and as the child counted patiently he closed his eyes and smelled the air. The Ramen smelled of beef, he could almost taste the small bits of meat that was included in the pre-packaged meal. There were other smells too, the noodles themselves, just within the use-by date, the herbs and other assorted flavourings and the musty smell of the apartment that never seemed to quite go away no matter how much he cleaned.

He savagely ripped the lid from the container, slid a fork directly into the centre of the floating mass of noodles, gave a quick stir and lifted the mass into his mouth, ignoring the feeling of heat emanating from the food Naruto bit down and swallowed as much as he could. His meal continued, hastily getting as much as he could onto his fork, then pausing momentarily to smell it as he held it within his mouth and a quick bite before swallowing the noodles. At the end he picked up the cup and drank the soup from it, the near boiling liquid sliding down his throat without causing harm or complaint.

Naruto washed his fork up and placed it carefully back in the drawer it had come from before tossing the ramen container carelessly into the bin. Going back to his room he speedily dressed himself in an orange jumpsuit with a black shirt beneath. Looking around suspiciously he opened a draw and felt it's underside for a moment before pulling out an old set of goggles. Resting them on his forehead he pulled the strap tight over the back of his head and left his small room. Passing through the kitchen he carefully placed random objects here and there on the floor. Opening the apartment door slightly he peered out the crack before removing a chain and going out the door, locking it behind him.

A cloaked man wearing a mask awaited him. A single gesture from the man and Naruto started to jog, the larger ANBU fading into the early morning shadows and following him discreetly.

It was just another day at the Academy.


	7. Vignettes: Humanity

A short story I posted on .com

This was partly done by me,

The ship exited ftl at the outer most Lagrange point of the third world of this system. The Ship s captain griped the side of his station tightly; trying to hide his nerves from the crew as the sensors began their slow sweep of the not so empty void.

Captain, we are detecting a large number of derelicts in orbit of this world. The Sensor operator fluted from his station. The Captains swiveled an eye down to his control panel and studied the read outs for a long moment before leaning back, nerves soothed by the lack of power readings among the multitude of ruined ships and floating debris.

Entering visual range now sir. The navigator called. The Captain singled his acknowledgment as rose from his command chair to improve his view of the remains in orbit of this world when his crest sagged in shock.

An Outsider ship floated in void, dead and surrounded by both Outsider and Unknown derelicts. It was the largest ever seen by his species, dwarfing previous ships in width and breadth. The Captain's face grimaced as his crest pressed against his skull in a moment of fear, but he got a hold of himself. Glancing down at his station reading what the sensors learned of the unknown vessels only for his crest, which had been slowly rising, to sag once more.

There were many Outsider ships... and many more unknowns, primitive ones, the fastest seemingly barely capable of maneuvering in comparison to even his own ponderous dreadnaught.

How warships decades if not centuries more primitive then his own race s could even stand against let alone defeat the monstrous Outsiders that had driven ruin before them escaped him. For decades his civilization had lost colony after colony to the advanced scouting forces of the outsiders, their fleets broken by Outsider ships both more powerful beyond belief, and yet more numerous than anything they had.

Only for the attacks to cease without warning.

For Fifty years they waited, building up their defenses and praying for salvation, their entire civilization dedicated to survival as they canabilized their greatest works of construction to fuel the war machine, even their culture destroyed as they built more and left all else behind.

But the attacks never came.

And now the captain saw why.

The last incident, the partial destruction of the closest colony to the core world; saved as the attacking outsider ships turned and flew away for reasons unknown.. they had come here.

After fifty years of terrible fear, of unknowing of their own fate, quivering as their crests rested against their skulls in fear as they worked day and night to construct, to build, to do everything they could to prepare for a fight they could not win.

His people had come, a reconnaissance in force, too afraid to send more than a single ship, he had come.

And he saw this.

A graveyard, a seemingly never ending field of stars covered in the remains of the Outsiders and their final defeat.

Were he capable of tears, tears of joy, the captain would shed them. But he was not. he opened his mouth, to produce a tune of joy.

Ping.

The crew reacted instantly, weapons were aimed everywhere, scans reached out and embraced the dark ruins of the enemy fleet as they sought out hidden foes.

Ping.

A small satellite, in orbit of the planet, miraculously untouched sent a signal. Spoken in the Outsider language, the computers of the ship had no problem deciphering it.

"If your here, if you are listening to this, it means your alive."

The voice rambled out of the speaker, unintelligible to all. The computers immediately translated it into the fluting speech of his own people, same in timbre and tone, the warmth of the voice being perfectly translated into the Captains language.

I don t know who you are, but I want to tell you this. We gave everything to stop the invaders from moving past this world in their campaigns, in their war of genocide. We fought and died not to save our world," The voice, male and calm up to this point, broke and trembled momentarily. "For that was impossible."

The Captain stood, his four feet coming into position as he stood at attention and saluted, the bridge crew followed in silence. Their crests rising as their spines straightened and fists clenched.

The voice continued on unperturbed, steel entering it as it continued. "We fought to keep them at bay, to make this world the world that broke the back of their advance upon the helpless, we fought to end the war."

The voice quietened. Then continued, not so loud, not so strong, but firmly. As if this was the most important message that would ever be heard by any being in all of creation.

The captain took a deep breath as he awaited the final words of the dead.

"This is our only gift to all other races that stand free of the Invaders. That we stopped them here."

A hiss of escaping air comes across the speakers.

"Don t waste your freedom.


End file.
